The Yanks in Belgium not only lost but lost by three goals in their Pro League contests as Game Day 4 has been wrapped up.
Union St Gilloise 3 – 0 Standard Liege
Marlon Fossey took his Standard side to Brussels for the weekend to face the reigning Belgian champions but a 25th minute red card for Thomas Henry put a damper on the day. A brace from Kevin Rodriguez was enough to secure the points although Promise David added a late one of his own.
Sixteen minutes into the game, with the hosts dominating possession, Henry decided that he wanted the ball but the way he went about it earned him a yellow card and left Kevin Mac Allister moaning in pain. The breakthrough came in the 23rd minute with the Ecuadorian, Rodriguez scoring for the second time this season, doubling his goal tally from last campaign. Then came the second yellow for the French striker two minutes later, with Mac Allister again being stepped on. So, the early shower for the former Verona man left his team short.
A minute after the clock struck one hour played, Rodriguez was at it again, this time sliding into the ball to score from very close range, thereby putting the game to bed.
The final goal was a gift from Standard’s defender Hakim Sahabo, as the 20 year old played back a lazy pass that David anticipated, ran into the path of and coolly slotted it into the back of the net as the Canadian opened his goal scoring campaign for the new season.
With seven points out of a possible 12, les Rouches will get back to business on Saturday night when they welcome Cercle Brugge to the Sclessin.
Cercle Brugge 4 – 1 Westerlo
It was a terrible night for both Griffin Yow and Bryan Reynolds along with their Westerlo side as they went to Brugge and got spanked by Cercle, who hadn’t scored a goal this season until the four on Sunday night. Yow only lasted an hour while Reynolds came off 14 minutes later.
The Gamecocks did start off well and Yow even had a shout at goal after six minutes, but his shot barely missed the target. He also had a 25th minute free kick that would have been the first goal of the game but for the double save of Maxime Delanghe in the Cercle goal.
Ten minutes before the intermission, Pieter Gerkens was celebrating his first goal of the season and two minutes later Alan Minda also opened his account. One could say that the game was put to bed before the half time whistle because a minute into the three extra time minutes, Steve Ngoura struck.
Although Westerlo did get one back in the 69th minute, courtesy of Josimar Alcócer’s second of the season, Cercle added another in the 92nd minute to give Westerlo a lot to think about on the bus ride home.
With just three points out of 12, they will have to return to the Jan Breydel Stadium yet again but this time face Club Brugge on Saturday night. Obviously, the two Brugge team’s share the stadium.
Notes:
Devon De Corte went the distance for the Anderlecht Futures, who compete in the Challenger League (D2), against Jong Gent. The Brussels Boys came away with all the points in this closely contested game in Flanders as they managed a 60th minute goal netted by Mihajlo Cvetković.
Jamath Schoffner is still looking for his first win of the season after the coach’s Lierse were undone by a 52nd minute Kortrijk strike and lost the road game one-nil.
